2.2.3. Buoys
Buoys are forms produced on the non-dominant hand for purposes of listing a number of referents (such as items in a schedule or family members), or denoting a salient referent by pointing to the referent by the non-dominant hand or alternatively holding the non-dominant hand component of the referent’s lexical sign [Lexicon - Section 1.2.3.].
Buoys that list referents are called list buoys. In the example below, the signer lists her relatives. The dominant hand is later used to refer back to a single item or multiple items in the list.
h1: three sibling exist ixb,c woman ixa man
h2: three____________
‘I have three siblings. Two of them are female, the other one is male.’
A prominent discourse referent, that is, a topic that has been continuously referred to during a conversation is held constant by pointer buoys.
h1: ixa something mistake exist
h2: ixa_________
‘That (person) made a mistake’
In fragment buoys, the non-dominant hand of a lexical sign is held stationary to maintain a repeatedly mentioned referent. In the example below, the referent (film for the TV series Spartacus) is mentioned for the fourth time in total by the interlocutors:
h1: film man die palm-up
h2: film______________
‘The man dies in that film.'